Chapter 1029: The Yonko, Nothing More Than This!!!

Chapter 1029: Chapter 1029: The Yonko, Nothing More Than This!!!

Boom! Rumble—!

The Mirror World looked like an apocalyptic hellscape. High above, a sea of fire surged, dark clouds gathered, and the faint, rumbling roar of thunder echoed. The towering Fire God, Zhurong, stood amidst the storm, brandishing a massive flame-sword. He stood unfazed as dozens of lightning bolts, each as thick as a barrel, hammered down upon him. He was the very embodiment of a god of fire.

On the ground, devastating fissures snaked across the landscape in every direction, punctuated by countless craters. The largest of these spanned hundreds of meters, resembling the impact sites of massive meteorites.

Dust hung in the air like a thick, choking mist. Given the ruined state of the environment, it felt as though this pocket dimension itself was on the verge of total collapse.

"Hah... hah... hah..."

Charlotte Linlin gasped for breath, her eyes locked on the figure standing before her, a being that resembled a demonic god. A stream of blood trickled down her forehead and past her eye, yet she didn’t even blink.

During a fierce battle that had already stretched for an entire day and night, she had tried countless times to defeat him. Yet, the number of times she had actually managed to land a hit could be counted on one hand. Instead, she was the one constantly being battered; she felt like nothing more than a punching bag for him to hone his skills.

Power: He was her equal in every way, perhaps even superior. Speed: He was leagues beyond her. Defense: While not as sturdy as hers, his "Impact Field" was incredibly difficult to break through. Stamina: He was a monster, a top-tier world-class entity.

Coupled with his Observation Haki, which had reached the terrifying level of Future Sight, Charlotte Linlin realized with mounting disbelief that this man’s strength had actually surpassed her own.

"Just as I thought!"

Aeridar’s expression was savage, a wild, frenzied grin plastered across his face as he excitedly mused, "A life-or-death battle is truly the best way to advance one’s Haki!"

Once one reaches the pinnacle of strength, further progress becomes agonizingly difficult. This is exactly why training is so easy for the weak but remains a monumental struggle for the strong.

This was especially true for Armament and Observation Haki; they could only truly evolve through the fires of real combat.

Relatively speaking, while Aeridar’s Observation Haki had reached the terrifying realm of Future Sight, his Armament Haki was only average. Compared to specialists like Rayleigh, Garp, or Hawkeye, there was a significant gap. For instance, he knew he couldn’t simply block one of Dracule Mihawk’s sword strikes from his Black Blade, Yoru, using Armament Haki alone.

But now, Aeridar realized that his grueling clash with the Yonko, Charlotte Linlin, was causing his once-average Armament Haki to leap forward in bounds.

"You’re using me as a target for your training... you bastard!!!"

Charlotte Linlin’s face flushed a deep, furious red. She was nearly blinded by rage, and with an ear-splitting roar of absolute hatred, she lunged forward, swinging her giant sword, Napoleon, with all her might.

"Such a blatant, predictable attack. Has she lost her mind from the anger?"

Aeridar narrowed his eyes. A flash of images crossed his mind, and he wore a sly, mocking smile. "She really has snapped. She’s actually resorting to trading blow-for-blow!"

By now, Linlin had closed the distance. Her massive blade, with its jagged, fanged maw, was wreathed in a razor-sharp Haki aura as she hacked down toward his head.

In the next instant, Aeridar flicked his leg out, hard as a steel pillar. Clang! He slammed his foot directly into the blade of Napoleon. The collision of their immense power sent a ring-shaped shockwave blasting outward, shattering the ground for kilometers in every direction.

Linlin followed up with a vicious punch, the whistling wind of the blow enough to kill an ordinary person instantly. But Aeridar, shrouded in his armored Armament Haki, stood as if forged from steel. He didn’t change his expression in the slightest.

"Super Almighty Push!!!" Shinra

Instantly, Aeridar’s clothes billowed as if filled by a sudden gale. A terrifying force, a repulsion of absolute magnitude, erupted from every inch of his body. It was a 360-degree, dead-zone-free blast that violently shoved everything in his immediate vicinity away.

"No—!"

Linlin’s fist was mere centimeters from Aeridar when it stopped dead, unable to advance a single inch further. Simultaneously, she felt an unstoppable, horrific force crushing into her.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

The sound of muffled thunder echoed as the solid earth shattered. The ground beneath them collapsed with visible speed, sinking and caving in. Even the air shivered, as if being shoved aside, forming a terrifying wall of air dozens of meters high. Mixed with countless clouds of dust and pulverized rock, the shockwave rolled outward in a massive, unstoppable tide.

The Mirror World shook as if hit by a magnitude-10 earthquake. A gargantuan, invisible force flattened the earth downward. Within seconds, a massive crater over ten kilometers in diameter appeared, it was as if a meteorite from deep space had crashed into the Mirror World.

It was a vast, triple-concentric crater. The deepest point at the center was fully thirty to forty meters below the original ground level, while even the outermost ring reached a depth of nearly twenty meters.

As for Big Mom, she had been blasted over ten kilometers away by that devastating, repelling impact.

"M-my world..."

At the edge of the crater, Br?lée stared blankly at the abyss, her legs giving out until she collapsed onto the ground. Around her, the dozen or so other survivors sat motionless in the dirt, consumed by lingering fear, horror, or simple shock.

Only moments ago, they were discussing whether their comrades had managed to reach Perospero, Katakuri, or the others.

Now, a sudden natural disaster had claimed the majority of them. Of the several dozen people who had been there, only these few remained. Even Noble Croc had died in the crater, unable to escape the final blast, reduced to nothing more than a dead lizard.

The Mirror World was vast, but there were limits. A destruction zone over ten kilometers wide had consumed at least half of the entire dimension. Other members of the Big Mom Pirates might have survived, but there could not be many left.

"Haa..."

Aeridar let out a long, heavy breath. The massive crater beneath his feet was a testament to the power of his strike, a hit more than twice as strong as the one he had displayed earlier in Levende Island. After all, the ground of the Mirror World was far tougher than the mud and stone of the outer world.

Pop!

In the next second, Aeridar vanished from where he stood.

When he reappeared a moment later, he was already ten kilometers away.

"Haa... what... what kind of... joke is this... haa..."

Charlotte Linlin lay sprawled on the broken earth, gasping for air, blood dripping steadily from the corner of her mouth.

"Aeridar!"

Suddenly, Linlin gritted her teeth and looked up. A tall, dark shadow had appeared out of thin air before her.

"How pathetic you look, Big Mom, a true ’Emperor of the Sea!’"

Aeridar looked down at her with a mocking smirk, his tone laced with cold disdain.

Bang—!

Aeridar kicked out, his foot connecting square with Charlotte Linlin’s face. He sent her gargantuan body flying, smashing her through a long, narrow staircase dozens of meters away.

"The Yonko, you’re really nothing more than this!!"

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